GE NIR (Negotiating Intimate Relationships)

Unit1 (Friendships)

Friendship in Childhood and Adolescence

By Cynthia A. Erdley and Helen J. Day

The Importance of Peer Relationships

Children’s relationships with other kids are very important for their mental and emotional
health. At first, researchers mostly studied peer acceptance, which means how much other
children like a child. Over time, they began to pay more attention to friendships, which are
close and mutual relationships between two people. Children who are liked by others are
more likely to have friends, but being accepted and having friends are not the same thing.
Each one affects children’s development in different ways.

How Friendships Are Different from Other Relationships

Friendships are special and different from relationships with classmates or other peers.
Studies show that children act more positively with their friends. They smile more, talk
more, share, help each other, and work better on tasks when they are with friends. Even
though friends sometimes fight, they usually try to solve problems by talking and keeping
the friendship strong. On the other hand, when kids fight with nonfriends, they are more
likely to argue strongly or try to win, which leads to unfair results.

Friendship Qualities and Similarities

Friendships are more equal than other peer relationships. Friends don’t try to boss each
other around as much, and there is less competition. Children often choose friends who are
similar to them. This is called homophily. Friends are often close in age, the same race, and
have similar views about school or behaviour. If one child is involved in bad behaviour, their
friend might be too. Over time, friends can become even more alike because they influence
each other.

A Theoretical Approach to Explaining the Importance of Friendships

Based on Sullivan’s Theory (1953)

Why Friendships Matter

Psychologist Harry Sullivan was one of the first to explain why friendships and peer
relationships are important for a child's development. He believed that at different ages,
children have different social and emotional needs, and certain relationships help meet
those needs best.

Infancy (Birth to 2 Years): Need for Tenderness

During infancy, the main emotional need is tenderness, or the feeling of being cared for and
loved. This need is mostly met by parents during this early stage.

Early Childhood (2 to 6 Years): Need for Companionship

As children grow a little older, they start to need companionship—someone to play and
spend time with. Parents continue to be the main source of companionship during these
years.

Juvenile Stage (6 to 9 Years): Need for Acceptance

From ages 6 to 9, children begin to care more about being accepted by others. While parents
still help meet this need, peers (other children their age) also become important. Kids start
wanting to feel liked and included by their classmates and friends.

Preadolescence (9 to 12 Years): Need for Intimacy

At this stage, the need for close, trusting friendships starts to grow. Children begin forming
strong bonds with same-sex friends who help meet emotional needs like acceptance,
companionship, and trust.

Adolescence (12 to 16 Years): Need for Sexuality and Support

During adolescence, new needs related to sexuality appear. Opposite-sex peers usually help
meet these needs. These peers also start to fulfill other social needs like emotional support
and companionship.

Friendships Become More Important

According to Sullivan, friendships become especially important starting in preadolescence.

Later studies, like one by Furman and Buhrmester (1992), show that during adolescence,
close friends often become more important than parents when it comes to emotional
support.

Functions of Friendship

Why Friendships Are Important

Throughout childhood and adolescence, friendships play an important role in helping

children grow emotionally and socially. One of the basic functions of friendship is
companionship. Friends enjoy spending time together doing fun activities. By early
adolescence, children often feel closer to their same-gender friends than to their parents
when it comes to companionship.

Support and Help from Friends

Friends also provide instrumental aid, which means they help each other with tasks or
problems. Children usually expect their friends to be more helpful than kids they are not
close to. Another key function of friendship is reliable alliance. This means that friends are
loyal, dependable, and can be counted on, which helps children feel safe and less anxious.

Emotional Support and Affection

Friendships also offer nurturance, meaning that friends care for and support each other
emotionally. Being chosen as someone’s friend can help children feel good about themselves
and increase their self-worth. Close friendships are also a major source of affection. Studies
show that children and teens often feel stronger emotions in their close friendships
compared to other peer relationships. Researchers describe this difference as the feeling of
“loving” a friend versus just “liking” a peer.

Sharing and Intimacy

Friends are also important for intimacy, or sharing personal thoughts and feelings. Children
and teens usually open up more and share deeper feelings with close friends than with
others.

Gender Differences in Friendships

Girls Friendships

Research shows that girls friendships are often more emotional than boys. Girls give and
receive more emotional support and feel closer to their friends. They also talk more about
their feelings and share more personal information. Girls report feeling more affection and
validation from their friends, and they rely more on their friendships to help understand
who they are.

Boys Friendships

Boys also value their friendships, but their friendships are usually less focused on emotions
and more on shared activities. The emotional differences between boys and girls friendships
start to become noticeable in late elementary school.

Changes in Friendship Over Time

In early childhood, boys and girls see their friendships as being equally close. But by
preadolescence, girls begin to see their same-gender friendships as more intimate than boys
do, and this difference becomes even bigger during adolescence. At first, both boys and girls
feel that cross-gender friendships (friendships with the opposite gender) are less close.
However, by later adolescence, both boys and girls begin to feel that these friendships are
more intimate. Girls see their cross-gender friendships as just as close as their same-gender
ones, while boys actually rate their cross-gender friendships as even closer than their same-
gender ones.

Consequences Associated With Friendship Experiences

Friendships are important for children’s and teens’ emotional and social health. When
children do not have friends or have poor-quality friendships, they are more likely to face
problems like loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, trouble with bullying, and
school difficulties. Researchers have found that friendship experiences affect many areas of
a child’s emotional adjustment.

Loneliness

At first, researchers thought that how much a child is liked by the peer group (peer
acceptance) was the main factor linked to loneliness. Children who are disliked tend to feel
the most lonely, while popular children feel the least lonely. Later studies showed that
friendships also play a big role. For example, even if a child is not well-liked, having at least
one good friend can reduce feelings of loneliness. Having higher-quality friendships also
helps children feel less lonely.

In one study, the number and quality of friendships predicted loneliness better than peer
acceptance. Children who are well-liked usually have more friends and better friendships,
which protects them from feeling lonely. Also, children with more and better friendships in
middle childhood are less likely to feel lonely in early adolescence.

Depression

Children with poor-quality friendships often report more signs of depression. Some studies
have shown that depression can make it harder for children to keep or build good
friendships, especially for girls. Girls’ friendships often involve more emotional support, so
when a girl is depressed, it can be hard for her to give that support, leading to weaker
friendships.

Studies following children over time found that depression can lead to having fewer close
friends and feeling that friendships are lower in quality. In one study, depressive symptoms
led to more conflict and less support in friendships. Though friendship problems may also
cause depression, most studies suggest that depression often comes first.

A study on twins found that girls who are genetically more likely to be depressed were less
likely to show symptoms if they had at least one close friend. Boys also benefited from
friendships, but the effect was smaller. These findings suggest that teaching kids how to
build good friendships may help prevent depression, especially in those at risk.

Anxiety
Friendship problems are also linked to higher anxiety. Children with anxiety often have fewer
friends, though they are just as likely to have a best friend. Interestingly, anxious children
often have friends who are also anxious, which can make their anxiety worse.

Poor-quality friendships—those with more conflict and less closeness—are linked to more
anxiety, especially in girls. Studies show that high-quality friendships can lower anxiety over
time, while anxiety can also cause friendships to become worse. Friendships with lots of
conflict raise anxiety in both boys and girls. However, close, positive friendships protect girls
from anxiety earlier than they do for boys. This may be because girls value emotional
support more strongly at a younger age. Teaching kids how to manage conflict in friendships
may help reduce anxiety.

Self-Esteem

Friendships can help boost children’s self-esteem because they make kids feel valued and
supported. Having good-quality friendships helps children feel better about themselves,
even when family support is considered. This may be because friendships are voluntary,
equal relationships that confirm a child's worth.

In middle childhood, both being accepted by peers and having friends predict higher self-
esteem. But in adolescence, friendships become more important than peer acceptance for
self-esteem. Teens with supportive friends feel better about their social skills, behaviour, and
school performance. On the other hand, teens in negative friendships feel worse about
themselves.

Having just one close, mutual friend is enough to improve self-esteem, but having more
friends doesn't necessarily increase it further. While it’s likely that good friendships help
build self-esteem, it’s also possible that children with high self-esteem form better
friendships. Most likely, both influence each other.

Peer Victimization

Friends can help protect children from being bullied and from the harm caused by bullying.
Children with a best friend are less likely to be bullied, and if they are, they are less affected.
Children with more friends also face less bullying, but friendship quality matters too. Even if
a child has many friends, low-quality friendships don’t offer the same protection.

When bullied children have at least one good friend, they are less likely to show emotional
or behavioural problems. Positive friendship traits like helpfulness and support help reduce
the effects of bullying. In teens, good friendships with low conflict can lessen the impact of
social bullying and help with emotional and behaviour problems.
Recent research shows that good friendships can even help teens manage stress better at a
biological level. For example, teens who are bullied but have supportive, low-conflict
friendships recover better from stressful situations. This means that friendships not only
help emotionally but also help the body handle stress.

School Adjustment

Friends play an important role in how children and teens do in school. Studies show that
children who have more friends when they start kindergarten tend to feel better about
school and do better academically. Having and keeping friends helps them enjoy school
more and be more ready to learn. For example, one study found that children with more
friends liked school more, were more involved in school activities, and were better prepared
to learn. Another study with third graders found that having friends helped them feel more
confident and perform better in school.

When students move to middle school, both the number of friends and how good those
friendships are can help reduce loneliness and increase self-esteem. Good friendships
provide emotional support during school transitions and help students feel more secure.

For middle school students, having friends and the kind of friends they have can affect how
they feel and how well they do in school. Students without friends tend to have lower
grades, feel more depressed, and have lower self-worth. Also, students who had prosocial
(kind and helpful) friends in sixth grade were more prosocial in eighth grade. In addition,
students whose best friends had good school habits were more likely to do better
academically. Those with friends who had bad habits were more likely to misbehave. So,
friendships impact both school performance and emotional health.

The Dark Side of Friendship

Although most research shows that friendships are good for development, some friendships
can actually be harmful. This depends on who the friend is and what kind of influence they
have. Children often become more like their friends over time. So, if a child becomes close to
a friend who behaves badly or is depressed, the child may also develop those same
problems.

Deviancy Training

One example of harmful friendships is called deviancy training. This was first seen in groups
of delinquent boys. These boys often became friends with others who were also delinquent.
Over time, these friendships led to even worse behaviour. When one boy talked about rule-
breaking, the other would respond positively, like laughing, which encouraged more bad
behaviour. The more they did this, the more likely they were to break rules later on.

Deviancy training has also been linked to things like smoking, drinking, drug use, risky sex,
and getting in trouble with the police. While this behaviour is more common in boys, girls
who are involved in these kinds of friendships are also at risk.

Even young children can show signs of deviancy training. In kindergarten, children who
became friends with peers who misbehaved were more likely to develop behaviour
problems. This is important because children who start having conduct problems early in life
are more likely to continue having problems as they grow older. Spotting these signs early
can help in giving support and preventing long-term issues.

Depression Contagion

Just as bad behaviour can spread between friends, so can depression. This is called
depression contagion. It means that if one friend is depressed, the other is more likely to
become depressed over time too. This has been seen especially in close friendships between
girls. In one study, girls who had best friends with depression were more likely to develop
depressive symptoms themselves. This effect was not seen as clearly in boys.

There are some reasons why this happens. Depressed individuals often show certain
behaviours that affect their relationships. For example, they may keep asking for reassurance
or seek out negative feedback that confirms their own low self-worth. These behaviours can
push friends away, making the person feel worse. While boys and girls may both show these
behaviours, they are more strongly connected to depression in girls. Also, when girls seek
too much reassurance or focus on their problems, their friends may feel stressed or
annoyed, which can weaken the friendship and make the depressed girl feel even worse.

Another factor is co-rumination, which means talking too much about personal problems
with a friend. Girls are more likely than boys to co-ruminate. While this can make them feel
closer to their friends, it also increases their risk of depression. Boys, on the other hand, may
feel closer from sharing but usually do not become more depressed. In fact, studies show
that girls who co-ruminate tend to develop depression earlier, and this may partly explain
why depression is more common in girls than boys starting in adolescence.

Overall, while close friendships help with emotional support, in some cases, they can also
increase emotional problems like depression—especially when friends talk too much about
negative feelings without finding solutions.
Friendships in Young and Middle Adulthood

Normative Patterns and Personality Differences

Friendships are important throughout a person’s life. From childhood to old age, most
people have friends. But people often differ in how many friends they have and what kind of
friendships they form. Also, friendships can change over time. These changes can also affect
a person’s personality. Understanding these patterns can help us learn more about how
friendships influence well-being and health.

People often use the word “friend” to describe many types of relationships, including those
with close acquaintances, family members, romantic partners, or coworkers. However,
researchers usually define friendships in more specific ways. Friendships are relationships
that are voluntary, meaning people choose them freely. They are informal and based on
equality and mutual support. Friendships are also usually pleasant and do not involve sexual
or romantic attraction, which separates them from romantic relationships. Unlike family
relationships, friendships are not based on kinship or legal ties. And unlike professional
relationships, friendships are more personal and not based on contracts or rules. This
chapter focuses on friendships during young adulthood (ages 20–40) and middle adulthood
(ages 40–60).

How Friendships Form in Young and Middle Adulthood

As children and teens, people often become friends with others who live nearby or go to the
same school. In young adulthood, people may keep some of these school friendships but
also form new ones with people they see regularly. For example, people who live close to
each other in a college dorm are more likely to become friends. People working in the same
team or department at a job are also more likely to become friends than those working in
different areas. Even something simple like sitting next to someone during an orientation day
at college can increase the chance of becoming friends later. Adults often form friendships
with people they see often—at work, in their neighborhood, in sports clubs, or through their
romantic partner or other friends.

The Role of Friendships in Adulthood

As people grow up, their friendships serve new roles and become more complex. While
children mainly form friendships for play, teenagers start to rely on their friends more for
emotional support and for spending free time together. These friendships also help teens
learn how to build romantic relationships. In young and middle adulthood, romantic
partners become more important, but friends still play a big role. They often act as
confidants, emotional supports, and companions for hobbies and activities. Friends also
offer practical help, like helping someone move or lending something. Friendships during
this time are mainly built on two key things: emotional closeness and mutual support.
Emotional Closeness and Reciprocal Support in Friendships

Emotional Closeness in Friendships

Friendships are usually emotionally close and supportive. However, not all friendships are
the same—people feel different levels of closeness with different friends. Emotional
closeness often depends on how similar people are in terms of interests, values, and
personality. According to the similarity-attraction theory, people tend to become friends
with others who are like them. This is because spending time with similar people makes us
feel good and supports our own beliefs and values. When people have many pleasant
experiences together, they start to feel closer to each other. So, similarity can lead to
emotional closeness in friendships. But what matters most is not just actual similarity, but
how similar people think they are. When someone sees another person as similar to
themselves, especially in positive ways, they tend to like them more. This perception leads
to stronger feelings of closeness.

Reciprocal Support in Friendships

Another key part of friendships is the support friends give each other. In most friendships,
people try to keep things fair by giving and receiving help equally. This idea is called
reciprocity. How people exchange support can change depending on how long they’ve been
friends. When a friendship is just starting, people usually return favours quickly to show
they’re not taking advantage of the other person. But in long-term friendships, people don’t
expect immediate returns for help. Instead, they focus on keeping the friendship balanced
over time without keeping score. Close friends trust that the support they give will be
returned eventually, even if not right away.

Individual Differences in Friendship Networks

Friendships not only differ within a person (for example, how close or supportive each
friendship is), but they also differ between people. Some people have only a few long-term,
close friendships. Others have large networks that include both close friends and many
acquaintances. Some people mostly have family relationships and no close friends. These
different types of friendship networks are called typological approaches. They help us
understand the patterns in how people form and maintain relationships. However, they can
sometimes oversimplify things by putting people into strict categories.

Another way to study friendships is the continuous approach, which looks at how different
relationships—like family and friends—are connected. One study found that people with
fewer siblings or cousins often had more friends. Also, people who didn’t feel very close to
their family members often felt closer to their friends. This shows that both the number and
quality of other relationships can affect how someone forms and values friendships.
In summary, friendships during young and middle adulthood are similar to those in
adolescence. They are still based on emotional closeness and mutual support, but the level
of these qualities can vary. Even for the same person, some friendships may feel closer or
more balanced than others. People also differ in how many friends they have and how close
those friendships are. Part of this difference is explained by personality traits.

Friendships and Personality

Personality Traits and Friendships

Personality traits strongly affect friendships. Traits like extraversion, agreeableness, and self-
esteem are especially important for both the number of friends a person has and how close
those friendships are. Besides individual personality traits, how similar friends are in
personality also matters. Most research focuses on the Big Five personality traits—
extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism—because these
are widely used to study relationships.

Personality Effects on the Number of Friendships

People who are more extraverted (especially those who are less shy) tend to have more
friends and can make new friends faster, especially in new situations like school or work.
Extraverted people are more likely to dress well, act confidently, and smile more—all of
which make them more likable. These behaviours help them make a good first impression
and attract others.

People with high self-esteem or higher levels of narcissism (specifically, those who like to be
admired) are also more likely to be liked right away. This is because their behaviour—such as
confident body language and positive expressions—is similar to that of extraverted people.

Agreeableness, which means being kind and cooperative, has mixed results. Some studies
found that agreeable people are more likely to be liked and chosen as friends, especially
when viewed through online profiles. But other studies didn’t find a strong connection
between agreeableness and having more friends. One reason might be gender differences—
in studies where most participants were female, agreeableness had a stronger effect. It may
be that being nice is more important for how women are perceived than for men.

Personality Effects on the Quality of Friendships

How Personality Affects Friendship Quality

Personality traits not only influence how many friends a person has, but also how good
those friendships are. For example, people who are more extraverted tend to stay in touch
with friends more often and feel closer and more supported by them. People who are more
optimistic also feel that they get more support from others. However, this may be about how
they see things rather than how much support they actually receive. In reality, how much
help a person gets depends on both their needs and what their friends can give.

Agreeableness and Friendship Quality

People who are more agreeable (kind and cooperative) often report stronger friendships and
fewer conflicts with friends. But not all studies find the same results. Some found that
agreeableness helped friendships, while others didn’t see much effect. So, the impact of
agreeableness on friendship quality can vary.

Other Personality Traits

Other traits like neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness might only affect friendships
in certain situations. For example, neuroticism (which includes worrying a lot and being
emotionally unstable) seemed to hurt friendships among men. In male groups, this trait
went against common gender roles and led to lower status and less influence in the group.

Personality Similarity in Friendships

Do Similar Personalities Make Better Friends?

People often say they prefer friends who are similar to them in attitudes, values, or interests.
This is because when someone is like us, we think they must also have good qualities. So, we
tend to like them more.

Perceived vs. Actual Similarity

Studies show that perceived similarity (what we think we have in common) helps people
form friendships. But actual similarity in personality or interests doesn’t always lead to
closer or stronger friendships. In fact, real-life studies found that simply being alike didn’t
predict friendship closeness or intensity.

Social Homogamy: Similarity from Environment

Friends often seem alike, but that may be because they come from similar environments.
This is called social homogamy—for example, people who live in the same neighborhood or
have similar education or income levels are more likely to meet and become friends. So,
many friendships may form not because of personality similarity, but because of shared
environments or activities.

What Really Matters in Friendships

Liking and closeness in friendships might depend more on how useful and supportive
someone is, rather than how similar they are in personality. More research is needed to
understand how both perceived and actual similarity affect friendship quality.
Conclusion on Personality and Friendship

Social traits like extraversion and agreeableness, as well as self-esteem and narcissism, are
important for making and keeping good friendships. These traits describe how people
interact with others—whether they are outgoing, confident, friendly, or cooperative.
However, to truly understand how personality affects friendships, researchers need to study
both people in the friendship (using dyadic studies) and follow them over time (longitudinal
studies). This helps capture how friendships grow and change.

Friendship Development

Young adults and teenagers have the biggest friendship groups and value friendships the
most compared to children or older adults. This section explains how friendships change in
number and quality during young and middle adulthood. First, we look at how the number
of friends changes, and then we focus on how the quality of friendships develops.

Changes in the Number of Friendships

Young Adulthood: Friendship Networks Grow

According to Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, young adults focus on learning and

exploring. Since they see their future as long, they try to make many new connections to
gain knowledge. This leads to bigger friendship networks. Studies show that people under
30 tend to increase their number of friends.

During this time, many life changes help people make new friends. For example:

Starting college can lead to about 10 new friendships within the first few months.

Getting a job also helps people form new friendships with coworkers.

Getting married can lead to more friendships, especially through a spouse's social circle.

Even though these life changes can cause some older friendships to fade, most young adults
still end up with more friends overall.

Middle Adulthood: Fewer But Closer Friendships

In middle adulthood, people focus more on emotional well-being than gathering new
information. They prefer spending time with close friends who bring comfort and support.
Also, responsibilities like work and family leave people with less time and energy for
maintaining large social circles. As a result, the number of friends tends to go down, but
contact with close friends increases. Becoming a parent, in particular, often leads to smaller
friendship networks.

Changes in the Quality of Friendships

How Friendships Grow Stronger

Friendships often grow through frequent, enjoyable, and personal conversations. People
share their thoughts and feelings (called self-disclosure), which builds trust and emotional
closeness. This process can turn new acquaintances into friends within a few weeks or
months.

One study showed that when students started college, their friendships became more
emotionally secure and supportive over 18 months. This means that as people feel safer in a
friendship, they also feel more supported.

Life Transitions and Friendship Quality

Getting married or becoming a parent changes not just the number of friends, but also the
quality of those friendships. For single people, friends are more important for emotional
needs (like talking, advice, and companionship). But for married people or parents, their
partner often becomes their main source of emotional support, so friends may become
slightly less important.

Some studies show that friendship quality (like closeness or support) stays mostly the same
over several years. However, the experience is not the same for everyone—some people’s
friendships get better, some stay the same, and others may weaken. These differences often
depend on individual personality traits.

Summary of Friendship Development

Young adults usually gain more friends due to life changes like college, work, or marriage.

Middle-aged adults focus more on a few close friends, especially as work and family take up
more time.

Single people often rely more on friends for emotional support than married people or
parents.
•

The quality of friendships can change in different ways for different people.

Many studies only look at average changes in the number of friends, not the changes in
specific friendships over time. Future research should track individual friendships more
closely to better understand how they change.

Long-Term Connections Between Friendships and Personality

Friendships and personality traits influence each other over time. While it's already known
that personality traits (like being more outgoing) relate to how many or what kind of friends
people have, research shows that these two areas—personality and friendships—also affect
each other as people grow older. Friendships are especially open to being shaped by
personality because they are more flexible and less controlled by family rules or social
expectations compared to relationships with relatives.

How Personality Affects Friendships

Research shows that personality traits can predict how friendships grow or change over
time. For example, people who are more outgoing (extraverted), kind (agreeable), or
emotionally sensitive (neurotic) tend to gain more friends. On the other hand, people who
are very open to new experiences may struggle to keep long-lasting friendships.

When looking at the quality of friendships, people who are more outgoing later feel that
their friendships are closer and more important. In contrast, people high in openness may
reduce how often they see their friends. People with high self-esteem feel less insecure in
their friendships over time, while those who are more neurotic feel more insecure.

One study found that personality has a stronger effect on friendships than on other
relationships like family or romantic partners. It also showed that changes in personality
over time could predict changes in friendships. For example, people who became more
agreeable later had more frequent contact with friends and less conflict in those friendships.
These findings suggest that personality plays a big role in how friendships grow or fade
during adulthood.

How Friendships Affect Personality

Friendships also shape our personality over time. In close friendships, people often adapt to
each other in order to keep the relationship strong. While earlier research focused mostly on
how friends affect children and teenagers, newer studies show that friendships also change
personality in adulthood.

For instance, young adults living with roommates (instead of their parents) became more
open and agreeable. Another study on students studying abroad found that making new
international friends led to increases in openness and changes in emotional stability
(neuroticism).

Friendship quality also matters. Support from a best friend helped people become more
outgoing between the ages of 17 and 23. In contrast, having conflicts or feeling insecure in a
friendship led to lower self-esteem and increased emotional instability. Again, these effects
were stronger for friendships than for family or romantic relationships, showing how
powerful friendships can be in shaping who we become.

Summary of Findings

Together, the research shows a two-way relationship between personality and friendships:
personality affects how friendships change, and friendships, in turn, shape personality over
time. This process is complex, and the effects happen across many personality traits. More
research is still needed to understand exactly how different traits and friendship qualities
interact, and what factors influence this back-and-forth effect.

Some studies also suggest that the impact of friendships can vary based on how strong or
positive the relationship is. For example, support from a friend might make someone more
confident, while frequent arguments might do the opposite.

Looking Ahead: Interactions with Other Relationships

Most research so far has focused mainly on friendships or compared them with just a few
other types of relationships. But to truly understand friendships, we also need to look at
how they are connected with other social relationships—such as with family members,
romantic partners, or coworkers.

All relationships can be described using two key features: emotional closeness and how
much support is given and received. For example, family relationships are usually close but
not always equal in support. Friendships, on the other hand, are often supportive in both
directions and can also be emotionally close.

Studies show that our relationships affect each other. For instance, people may feel closer to
their friends if they are not close with their families. Friendships can sometimes replace
missing emotional connections from other relationships, which helps improve well-being.
Challenges and Future Research

Studying these relationship links is challenging. Researchers need to study many different
relationships for each person using the same methods. This is hard because people often
have between 3 and 4 social relationships. Also, since relationships change over time,
researchers need to follow people for many years.

It's also important not to rely only on what people say about their relationships. Studies
should include both people's perspectives and possibly observe their behaviour to get a
more accurate picture.

Conclusion

In summary, friendships play an important role in shaping who we are, especially during
young and middle adulthood. They influence our personality, and our personality shapes
them in return. To better understand friendships, future research should include complex,
long-term studies that look at how different relationships affect each other and how
personality and friendship influence each other over time.